Cauterizing instruments are commonly used in surgery for making and cauterizing incisions and wounds. Such cauterizing instruments are typically used with a flat blade tip or a needle tip, depending upon the extent of cauterizing required. Such flat blade tips and needle tips are available in varying sizes.
As such cauterizing instruments are used, coagulated blood, small bits of flesh and other debris adhere to the tip, causing a degradation in the current flow and efficiency of the cauterizing process, and obstructing the surgeon's view of the tip of the instrument. Thus, it is necessary to periodically remove the coagulum and debris from the tip during use of the cauterizing instrument.
Coagulum and debris can be removed from a cautery tip by wiping the tip repeatedly on a piece of sandpaper which is taped or pinned within reach of the surgeon, typically on the patient's surgical drape. This method usually requires that the surgeon twist or rotate his wrist as he cleans the cauterizing instrument to insure that all surfaces of the cautery tip are sufficiently cleaned. This method is disadvantageous because it is time consuming and takes the attention of the surgeon away from the patient and directs it to the cleaning process. Further, with sandpaper alone there may be a danger of accidental needle sticks to the patient if the sandpaper is accidentally perforated during the cleaning process.
Other, more complex devices for cleaning cautery tips are also found in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,404 provides a disposable sponge for cleaning surgical instruments. U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,926 to Brush provides a cautery tip cleaner which is attached to the cauterizing instrument for moving over the cautery tip for removing the coagulum. However, these devices are disadvantageous because they require two-handed operation and take the attention of the surgeon away from the patient.
One-handed devices for cleaning cautery tips are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,011,693 and 3,982,357 disclose cautery tip cleaners having confronting abrasive strips urged into mutual engagement by magnetic force. Flat cautery tips are cleaned by drawing them between the confronting abrasive strips. U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,923 discloses a compressed coil spring in which a flat cautery blade is cleaned by drawing it through two adjacent individual coils. The problem with these devices is that they are relatively complex and correspondingly expensive to produce, and they do not provide an efficient means for cleaning cautery needles.
Therefore, the need exists for a simple and inexpensive apparatus for efficiently and quickly cleaning both cautery needles and blades by a one-handed operation, and in which the possibility of accidental needle sticks to the patient during the cleaning operation is eliminated.